festival weekend

Last weekend was the last of the Fringe Festival, and with some friends who came up to Edinburgh to stay, we had a weekend filled with festival activities.

On the Saturday we had Lunch With The Hamiltons - in which the ex-MP of Sleaze (sorry, Tatton) and his battle-axe wife presented a show of daytime TV format. Various guests came on, all of which had their own shows on in the Fringe. The Hamiltons relied heavily on the talent of their guests, as they didn't seem to have much themselves. Their contributions were mostly loud-mouth banalities from Christine and little quips from an awkward-looking Neil. However, when one of their guests arrived who took casts of kisses, the show fell to unexpected levels of embarrassment. The method of taking a cast of a kiss involved two people holding a substance in their mouths, kissing, and holding the pose for 90 seconds while the substance set to a solid. The Hamiltons were selected to do this, so the audience had to endure 1 1/2 minutes of their snogging, with associated groping of various body parts...

Following a rather good drama about pre-revolution Spain, and a free comedian (just as well free as he wasn't great), we went to The Stand Comedy Club for the late show, starting at midnight. Five comedians came, did their part, and went, all of which made us laugh. The last guy was Phil Nicol - he was just out of the IF.commedy awards (previously Perrier awards), having won it. And he was drunk and high as a kite. His performance probably wasn't as good as a result, but it was nice to see him happy. However, we had already booked to see him the following night, so weren't sure what to expect.

On Sunday, my friends wanted to see The Goodies, some comedians who used to be on the TV in the late-70s. My friends really enjoyed them, but they're not my cup of tea really. It was probably good for Maylis to experience a bit of British culture though, however her comment was 'not particularly funny'...

Sunday evening we went to Phil Nicol the comedy winner's show. It was titled The Naked Racist, and was a story about a trip he made to Amsterdam. There was a really good atmosphere, with the crowd in very good mood full of anticipation. And towards the end of the show, part of the reason for the title became apparent, as Phil took all his clothes off. He was joined by a naked backing band, and about 10 more naked people dancing around the audience.

Now the festival period is almost finished, and the city is returning to normal. Just as well, as I'd get worn if I had several weekends like that.